The story
Read it all →How Albers came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Albers.
Albers had its start in the 1860s when the railroad was extended to that point.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Albers
Albers’ post office opened in 1893
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Albers was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1960.
1893first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Albers began
When was Albers founded?
1893
The Albers post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 566 in 19602020 census: 1,121133 years
How historic is Albers?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Albers post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Albers’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Albers is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Albers’ overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.7% of homes (±1.7) · typical IL town 10.6% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IL town 0.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 19%
NewerOlder
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Albers’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Albers’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Albers’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Albers’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Albers on the map, 1906 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Albers. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Breese sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Albers.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumPeople over time
Albers, census by census
Between 566 and 1,190 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Albers’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Albers
Nobody well known was born in Albers itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Albers’ history
What year was Albers founded?
The Albers post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Albers rank for history?
Albers is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Albers?
3% of Albers’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1976.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.